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How avoid microplasics? (infosec.pub)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

103 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I am busy and don't have time to research all of the ways corporations have poisoned us.

What are some good rules on how to avoid microplastics?

Eat local foods? Avoid processed foods? Walk/bike? Use dry soaps? Don't use any take away containers? Avoid walking near busy roads? Use cotton/wool for all clothing?

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[–] Blue_Morpho 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The plastic particles are small enough to enter the cells of your body. No filter can let dirt through and block micro plastics.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Maybe stop thinking in absolutes and see if blocking 99% makes a difference? You gotta be smarter than to think in black and white

[–] Blue_Morpho 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I don't think you understand how small the particles are. You can't filter micro plastics out of soil because the micro plastics are the same size as the soil particles. Take a bucket of sand and dye half red. How are you going to filter it?

There are methods to destroy micro plastics like raising the temp. But that will kill the bacteria in the soil making it sterile.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They're there in varying sizes. We're not looking for perfection. We're looking for 'good enough'. And if the place you live is so polluted that you can't even grab some dirt out of your yard without poisoning your plants... I think you have to get out of there

[–] Blue_Morpho 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I don't think you understand the physics of the problem. Have you played connect 4, the game with the checkers that you drop down a slot?

Imagine the black checkers are dirt particles and the red checkers are microplastic. The game set with the slots is the filter the particles drop through. Play a game and then open the slider at the bottom to dump the checkers. Do the red checkers stay in the game set while only the black fall out? Of course not, because they are the same size.

There is no possibile way to filter the plastic because it is the same size as the dirt in all its different sizes. There are large and small dirt particles. There are large and small micro plastics. If you remove 1% of the microplastic you remove 1% of the dirt, so the remaining dirt is just as contaminated. You didn't filter it, you only removed an equal amount of dirt and plastic.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215016121003095